Will AI Steal Our Jobs?
The fear that AI will steal people’s jobs is currently spreading across many sectors. It’s not science fiction, nor a conspiracy theory. Artificial intelligence is today a powerful tool that boosts productivity, which in itself could already lead to layoffs and staff cuts.
But the main problem (or not) is that we’re only in the early stages of this revolution. It’s hard to predict its long-term impact, but there’s fairly broad agreement that it won’t be small, and that it could even end up shaping and transforming our future societies. The reality is that with this technology barely peeking its head out, it’s already possible to picture how many of today’s professions could be affected. We’re not talking about specific sectors, but about a wide and varied range: doctors, truck drivers, illustrators, actors, writers, software engineers, economists, and a long etcetera.
The alarms start going off when people sense that their jobs are under threat. It’s no small thing; being out of work is no joke, and many people will no doubt end up there, since AI will make it possible to produce the same with fewer employees.
In the long term, however, the consequences will probably be much broader, and not so negative. If we washed our clothes by hand, if the horse were our means of transport, or if every task were done by hand, the number of jobs would be infinitely higher. The wealth generated, and the number of leisure hours, would also be infinitely lower.
AI could mean the real start of a gradual reduction of the working week, longer annual holidays, etc. A working model in which humans contribute a minimum of work compared to machines would mean transforming several layers of society. To give an example, it might become necessary for machines to pay taxes. If the work is being done by a robot or a computer instead of a human, maybe that machine should pay taxes as if it were a worker.
In any case, fighting AI is swimming against the current. The goal should be to make governments aware that the labor and social transformations it brings must be supervised and regulated. The transition must be as painless as possible.
I’m not very optimistic about it, since the reaction usually comes when it’s already too late and the problems have become an unstoppable snowball. If there’s no electoral gain in it, politicians rarely make a move. Maybe it’s up to us, ordinary citizens, to campaign and fight so that AI changes our lives for the better. What do you think?
